


There's More to Do

by caffeinated



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:31:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3636816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffeinated/pseuds/caffeinated
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam and Louis help each other cope with Zayn's unexpected departure from their journey to Light's Trials.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's More to Do

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the universe of a larger fantasy AU that may never be finished, and as such references things and events in that as-of-yet nonexistent universe. Hopefully, however, much of this ficlet stands alone.

The fire settled into a hum, all its crackle already whisked off into the night’s sky. Liam stood up and stretched out his back, relieving strain from tending to the fire in a crouched position all night. He hadn’t realized how much stress he had put on his back until he felt his spine decompress. 

He sat down by their equipment and ran his fingers over the leather on his sword’s scabbard. The nights were still growing longer, so Liam figured he’d still have a couple hours until day. 

Tomorrow would be busy. There was still a lot of distance to cover before they’d get to the city and a seemingly infinite list of things to do once they got there. He would have to make sure all their deliveries were made on time. He would need to restock on supplies: the lucifly lantern had been damaged back in Gyllcove, they definitely would need more dressings now that Liam had just used the last to wrap Niall’s ankle, and he didn’t want food to keep being a day-to-day concern. Also, he would need to find time to hunt down any source medic to get as much training as possible.

Two discordant popping sounds broke his train of thought, and he instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword. 

“Calm down, stabby,” Louis chuckled, tossing another glowing shale fragment at Liam’s feet. It made the same popping noise before fizzling into a tiny dust cloud. 

Liam unclenched his hands and let his body relax again. “Hard time sleeping?” Liam asked.

“Nope. Just thought it’d be fun to make the night shift a little more interesting for you.” Louis sat down next to Liam, legs sprawled across Liam’s.

“Louis, as I remember, the last time I woke you up before the sun was out, you threw a shoe at me and said that only demons and goat thieves were up before the sun. I don’t think this is your idea of fun.”

“And what if I want to steal a goat? Huh, what then, Liam?” 

“We can’t steal a goat. There aren’t even any around here. Plus, where would we even keep one?” Liam briefly imagined having a pet goat. He wondered if he could train a goat to eat some of the dirty rags that Harry liked to pass off as clothes. Goats probably had better sense than that. Still, maybe he could at least get a goat to chew them up a bit. Liam grinned at his own ridiculous thought.

Louis seemed to mostly ignore Liam’s response, muttering something about nonsense. He flicked glowing specks of dust into the fire, having imbued each with source so they would spark a bright blue as they were engulfed by the flame. Readjusting himself, he nestled entirely against Liam’s side, letting his head rest on Liam’s chest. Liam involuntarily shuddered a bit as Louis’s sharp stubble pricked through the thinning fabric of his shirt. 

The night stayed quiet, Liam noticed. The air was almost impossibly still. Liam was uncomfortable with his lack of familiarity with the area. They'd only just broken out from the woods as night was falling and had no real time to make the standard cautionary checks. The terrain looked relatively flat and the local animals so far had been relatively tame, staying far away from their group. Still, an uneasiness rested in the pit of his stomach. Maybe it would be best if he did a little surveying now, before everyone else got up. 

“Don’t worry about it. Stop thinking so hard,” Louis said. Louis was looking up at Liam's face, concern spreading across his expression.

“I’m not, I’m just sitting here.” 

“I can see you physically thinking. You’re rubbish at hiding it,” Louis said. “Also, you’ve been running your fingers through those fletchings. Zayn would be angry with you.” 

Liam looked to his hands and wondered when he’d grabbed the arrow. The soft feathers did have a soothing effect. “Zayn isn’t here to be angry with me. And well, I guess I’ve just been thinking about everything. You know, like how we’re going to get everything done.” 

Louis pushed off Liam’s chest and sat up. “What a load of crap. Just say it straight. You’re thinking about Zayn leaving. Come on, for crying out loud, you’re caressing his stuff.” 

Liam dropped the arrow. “I really was not thinking about Zayn. Honestly.”

“Well you should’ve been.” Louis’s irritation grew louder.

Liam bit his lip. Louis clearly wanted to have this conversation, so this conversation was happening now. “I guess what it is…” Liam started and stopped. He felt as though his thoughts, like much of what Louis touched, had fragmented into thousands of tiny particles. “I guess I don’t know what to think. It just - I wasn’t expecting this.” He wasn’t. He’d known their journey had morphed into more than what Zayn had signed on for and that their current path went far beyond merely seeing more of the world and delivering parcels and messages. He’d talked to Zayn about feeling hesitant and conflicted, but he’d had those talks with everyone. He had known Zayn was the most wary and felt the most distant but assumed everyone was more or less on the same page. 

After a long pause, Liam continued, “If I had known, I would’ve done more.”

“Trust me, there’s nothing you could have done.” All the irritation fled from Louis’s voice, chased away by knowing resignation.

“I could have worked harder to make him more comfortable. I could have paid more attention. There’s always more to do.” Liam clenched his jaw. With those words, his mind was back in his hometown. He was fifteen again, watching Louis helplessly as Louis’s mum worked resolutely to carefully create the proper salve. He could hear planks of wood being stripped from the docks by the storm. He felt the shop tremble under the onslaught of harsh winds. 

“Doing more isn’t an answer to everything,” Louis said and Liam heard every time Louis had ever said that, all at once. “Zayn was done. That was his decision. He’ll be better at home,” Louis’s voice was peppered with uncertainty. 

Louis must have caught the skepticism in Liam’s brow, “Listen, you don’t need to be over it. I’m not over it. Zayn will always be Zayn, you know? But you need to get out of your head, we’ve been through this before. I need you to get out of your head.” 

Liam let out a breath and dropped his shoulders. “I miss him.” He did. He figured he always would and he was okay with that.

“Yeah.” Louis nodded his head in agreement. With that, his expression softened. He seemed more satisfied by Liam's body language than his words.

They’d had Louis’s conversation, now Liam needed his own. “But, really, I was thinking about what we need to do now. We need to make changes to the plan to get through Light’s Trials.”

“That’s still week’s out,” Louis mumbled. He had nestled back against Liam’s side.

“Well. We have some gaps to fill. Like this,” Liam said, picking up an arrow. “And that,” this time pointing over to where Niall was sleeping, the loose end of a dressing dangling from his ankle. 

“We’ll figure it out. I’ve got some skills with a bow. And Niall hasn’t died yet, so you’re not a terrible medic, I guess,” Louis laughed. Liam knew that was Louis’s version of a compliment and took it silently. He and Louis had already had plenty of arguments over Liam's skill as a source medic, and Liam didn't much feel like having another at the moment. He'd save it for another time.

Instead, Liam tried to come up with some concrete changes, mentally going through everything that would need tweaking before they actually arrived at Light's Trials. Even simple things like night watch schedules and equipment carrying duties would need to be altered. As Liam started to verbalize some of this, Louis let out a slight yawn, eyes closed, and Liam guessed any real planning would have to wait until morning. Louis fidgeted, pressing closer into Liam. Their legs had managed to become completely entangled. A tingling sensation needled through Liam’s foot, an irritating prelude to numbness. Liam tried to steady his breathing, so the rise and fall of his chest wouldn’t disturb Louis’s rest. 

Liam rested his own head back fully and just wondered at the sky. He’d never been one for astronomy, but tonight he especially appreciated the vastness the stars conveyed. They were truly an impossible distance away. Everything around him was workable by comparison. 

“Liam, you worried about getting everything done?” Louis asked, barely back from the brink of sleep.

Liam was, and would always be, a little bit worried about being able to do everything, and Louis knew that. Liam instead answered Louis’s actual question, “ _We_ can get everything done. We always have. We’ll just have to do more.”

“Mmm,” Louis agreed, flicking Liam's chest before nodding back off to sleep. 

The last week finally began to settle into his own bones, and the weight of it seemed to be resting on his eyelids. The adrenaline had all but dissipated, which he hoped meant the shock had faded. He was pretty sure he still hadn’t really processed everything - that no one had really processed everything yet. But his mind’s fatigue from running through hoops was now seeping into his body, and he just could not muster the energy to press through any more emotional drain at the moment.

For now, he knew they would work hard because they always had. And he knew they would work harder because he would rely on them to.


End file.
